esterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. contact your doctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. this risk may be increased when trilipix is used with a statin. if you cannot afford your medication, call 1-866-4-trilipix for more information. trilipix. there's more to cholesterol. get the picture. amid the misery and despair in earthquake ravaged haiti there is hope for life. a toddler pupped from a mountain

of rubble days after the cat kiz mick earthquake. our coverage continues with a series of live reports including the worldwide response, the global effort to provide relief for the millions of survivors. those in desperate need of medical attention as well as food and water. and we're going to show you what you can do to help the people of haiti in their darkest hour. good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt and welcome to "msnbc saturday." just past 9:00 a.m. eastern, 6:00 a.m. out west. right to the head lines for you and we begin with some high-powered help on the way for the people of haiti, and the victims of that earthquake. the "uninns comfort" is leading for port-au-prince a floating hospital ta can treat 500 patients a day expected to arrive by next thursday. authorities in haiti say as many as 200,000 are now dead after the earthquake and 40,000 victim it's buried in mass graves. among survivors, between 2 million and 3 million people in need of food, water, shelter and

health care. the pentagon says 4,200 american force, now in haiti, according to the pentagon and by monday that number will be more than 10,000. and right now secretary of state hillary clinton is headed to haiti to inspect the damage. for more i'm joined live from port-au-prince by nbc's michelle kaczynski. good morning to you. wrap can you tell us from your vantage point there? >> reporter: hi, alex. at the port-au-prince airport where you can probably see behind me members of the american military setting up their camp and getting praises ready. you can't see behind them, they've had choppers landing and taking off for two days now. almost a constant rotation. what we know they're doing today is set ug's a security point in port-au-prince, kind of a vantage point overlooking the refugee camp. that's going to be a good base of operations for them. as you know, we've been talking about it a lot, security is an issue right now. not on a large scale but the concern is down the road there are going to be weeks of misery

in the streets of port-au-prince and security could take a turn for the worst, and that's their job. they're going to have people there and supplies as needed. we know the military is also helping with rescues today. we hope to get with them in a little bit and not only show what you they're doing but maybe go along with them too. it's really a busy day. it may be the most efficiently moving day we've seen since we've been here, since the american mill toe got here over the last two days and in force. seeing numbers since monday. we expect to have about 10,000 u.s. troops on the ground an along with them, members of foreign militaries as well. it's nice to see things working more smoothly today, but that doesn't really illustrate how difficult it still is to get the supplies to the people who need them the most, alex. >> i understand an extreme lack of water. it's very hot there right now, michelle, also a fear of violence when supplies are delivered, which i understand can be hampering efforts to deliver the fresh water? have you heard anything about

that? >> reporter: yeah. in fact, we were just talking to the 82nd airborne about that out of fort bragg, north carolina. another one of their tafbs when they set up security centers, they have security then at each point where there's going to be dropping off of water. they have multiple jobs to do today. security obviously is one of the priorities. they want to make sure they have security any place before their going to be dropping off these water shipments and at deg nated locations around port port-au-prince. vort the water has been delivered at different places in and around port-au-prince but they want a more organized operation going and security is pretty important in that, alex. >> all right. nbc's michelle kaczynski. we'll talk about. thanks for the live report. this has got to be one of my favorite stories of the day. an australian television crew helps pull a child from rubble. these are pictures shot of that

rescue. the television crew was about to film an interview when they heard the child screaming from under the rubble. >> very emotional, hon in thely. i actually thought that it was my own baby that i was pulling out of there. and she did a great job, because she stood alive for three day, i mean, with no food, no drink. all she needed was a little bit of space to walk out. >> reporter: she walked out? >> that's what she did. >> reporter: she walked out? >> she actually reached out to me. shep saw the light and went out for it. >> what a miracle, right? one of the rescuers working with the crew said the little girl's fighting spirit ept kept her alive without food and water. the good news, the toddler appears to be in good shape despite her ordeal. fresh pictures showing coast guard evacuating people from haiti. and as u.s. citizens are slowly convoyed out of the country, u.s. troops are slowly making their way into the country.

right now there's about 4,200 troops supporting from the ground coast guard vessels off the haitian shore. and president obama is enlisting the help of former presidenting george w. bush and billion clinton as the situation on the ground grows more desperate in haiti. they're expected to meet in the oval office in about 90 minutes oh soar from now. at the white house for us, mike. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> how do they fit into this relief effort? >> back in 2004, into 2004, in the aftermath of the horrific earthquake and resulting tsunami in indonesia and around the indian ocean, president george h.w. bush and bill clinton assigned to help out efforts and raise money, seen as widely successful. raised about $1 billion in corporate and private cone donations from american citizens and entities. largely the same thing going on

here with president clinton and as it turns out george w. bush. they will meet with president obama in about an hour and a half in the oval office then come out about 11:00 here in washington to the rose garden and announce a joint effort of bipartisanship. president clinton has a long history in haiti. the u.s. envoy to haiti, actually and actually honeymooned there with secretary of state hillary clinton back in 1975. got a long fascinatitecinatiofa spoken of haiti many times. george w. bush will join him in this effort. a lot of activity in the united states as this effort to mobilize moves forward. in florida, the vice president will travel with the secretary of state of homeland security, janet napolitano. visiting the haitian-american community there, and also an air base serving as a staging area for a lot of the relief effort, and in haiti, secretary of state hillary clinton herself now on her way to haiti. she intends to meet with the

president there. rene preval. ed pret finally spoke with him yesterday by telephone after two unsuccessful attempts in the aftermath of the earthquake. an illustration how difficult communications have been and getting through to haiti itself, alex. >> nbc, thanks, mike. and george w. bush and bill clinton will let you know how you can help. check local nbc listings. as we've reported, there are between 2 million and 3 million people right now in need of food, water, shelter and health care. nbc news chief science correspondent robert bazell joins us live from port-au-prince. with another good day to you, let's get things from you in terms of priority. what do you see as the top thing? you've got food, water, medical care, shelter. where do you begin? >> reporter: well, you begin with water, and then food. shelter is a long way away.

we're here at the airport as we probably told you over and over again. you hear so many of these aircraft. they have helicopters from the carrier "uss vinson" just offshore. cargo planes coming in from all oevlg are the world bringing in relief supplies. hundreds of volunteers streaming in as quickly as possible, but it's a big question as to whether the hing things that people need, the medical care for those wounded, the water, the food, whether it can get there fast enough because logistics are difficult. it's very hard to get everybody into place in a time that's needed. it's 94 degrees today. it's not a good situation. the one good thing that has happened here, we saw yesterday, that the bodies have been picked up. still a lot of bodies on the street yesterday, but they were putting them in dump trucks fairly quickly, the asian government was doing that. a massive cremation of something like 40,000 people, and that is a big -- both psychologically and for health reasons it's very

important to get the bodies off the street, because a few days ago, the bodies, the streets were littered with bodies. now that, at least that one problem has been taken care of, but there is so much need. it's just overwhelming. >> yeah. and it's been described before haiti as being on the precipice of disaster in terms of their health. their health situation throughout the country even on a good day. can you tell me why? >> reporter: well, the thing is that haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. excuse me. even before this occurred, we have tuberculosis here, malaria, benji fever. one-third of the population has access to clean water, one-third to adequate sanitation. as a result, even before the earthquake hit, enormous amount of diarrhea ill inside, enormous amount of respiratory ills in and this only exacerbates that. so the next wave of this is

going to consist of two things. it's going to consist of two people, people who got severely wounded but survived, and who need either surgical care or antibiotic whose will expire in f they don't get those things and it's going to consist of outbreaks of disease inevitable because there was so much disease in the pop lagts even before the earthquake. >> bob bazell, thank for the updates. we'll check in again with you. all of you, be sure to stay with msnbc for the latest on the haiti earthquake. live coverage of reports from port-au-prince throughout the day, and at noon, my colleague cameron hall will pick up our live coverage. be right back. stay with us. ( folk music playing )

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welcome back to msnbc and our continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti.

the usns comfort is leaving baltimore this hour for port-au-prince. that floating hospital treats 500 patients a day and is expected to arrive by next thursday. authorities in haiti say as many as 200,000 people are dead and 40,000 buried in mass graves. 2 million to 3w million people in desperate need of food, water, shelter and health care. for more i'm joined by wnbc the tom llamas along the haiti dominican republic border. so, tom, i know you got a firsthand look at the recovery on the ground as from high above in a rescue chopper carrying wounded to safety. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, alex. i can tell from you 1,200 feet oesh port-au-prince the city looks completely differ. just like the images on the ground, they're unreal. sides of cliffs completely wiped out. and these cliffs had homes and buildings stacked on top of each other. they've all crumbled to the floor. in in cases it looks like rocks

crumbling down to the street. one building we saw, a massive complex. not sure if it was a hotel or government building, and it was on a mountaintop. looked like it had been bombed. eve's it's united nations building collapsed and the dominican embassy where we flew into, the dominican embassy in port-au-prince, that building withstood the earthquake but an entire section tumbled to the ground. 's in an earthquake, strange. pockets unaffected, okay, and then entire communities and sections of port-au-prince completely wiped off the face of the earth. for the haitians living there, they can't stay in structures they're unstable. they're living out on the streets. in front of churches. living anywhere they feel it's safe where something the not going to crumble on top of them. one of the biggest problems, communication. there's no television, no telephone and many of the aide workers are from the u.n., u.s. or dominican republic. not everyone speaks french or creole. when relief supplies do come to port-au-prince and water's being tossed out or food served, these

people are so hungry. they've spent three or four days without anything in their stomachs. when they can get something they run at the same time and at times can be very dangerous. >> tom, you talk about those being ferried for treatment. you said people with acute injuries. can you describe the injuries you saw while onboard that chopper? >> reporter: many of the people have fractured bones, but we've seen everything from broken bones, broken kneecap, broken feet, to also cardiac arrest. for some of 9 elderly haitians that lived in port-au-prince, they had heart attacks during and after the earthquake. besides that, people are panicked, in shock. when they come to the hospital here they're usually in pickup trucks or cargo truck. it breaks your heart. you think it's bringing splice. open the back latch and there's just bodies spread all through the back of the bed the truck and these are haitians who need immediate medical care. the sad reality is some of these

fractures have gone two and three days. they have wounds that are bleeding, and for a lot of these haitians they have to amputate the limbs because that's the only way to keep them alive. not enough supplies to treat gangrene or enough doctors. >> tom laumilamas, sobering rep. thank you. seismologist say they've made significant strides in identifying areas that could be struck by quakes in the next few decades. and joining us now via skype from west lafayette, indiana, eric calle, professor at perdue university and from the geological survey joining us from washington. gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning. >> eric when people think of earthquakes they generally think of california, but that is not the case at all. can you explain the broad threat of earthquakes here in the u.s., and clearly throughout the dominican republic and haiti and the caribbean in general? >> right. you know, the earth's crust is divided into a number of what we

call tete tonic plates, about ten more or less,alities less, actually. the boundaries of the plates are the regions prone to earthquakes. california is one of them and the whole northern caribbean is yet another boundary between two major plates. very prone to earthquakes as well. >> okay. and, david, this fault hadn't had a large quake in about 200 years. so at what point were seismologists looking at this and saying this one is due, and here's what we need to do to avoid disaster? >> well, dr. calle, in fact, was one of the folks who's been looking at this particular structure trying to understand how it has been loaded with time. this is, as was pounded out, an area where the earth's crust is grinding against one another. the two of the plates. so we know stress is building up. the challenge we have with earthquakes is, we don't know exactly when they're going to

occur but we certainly can know where the hazard is. and, therefore, can attempt to build structures that are going to be able to withstand them. >> eric, it's my understanding that a couple of years ago a delegation went to haiti and explained the potential for an earthquake, and so people think, well, two years, but, in fact, two years to prepare a country like haiti to withstand something like this -- i mean to say it was a race against time. it's almost futile. there was no way they could prepare for something like this. right? >> right. it would have been -- very difficult for the haitian government to react in such a short amount of time. plus, at the time we didn't know how much time there was, anyway, but the lesson is that it's always better to prepare earlier than later, and also the other lesson is that it's very valuable, certainly, to listen to scientists and what they have to say about areas that are prone to large events like what we saw. >> and, david, to what extent is it going to be -- seismologists

will be able to predict and pinpoint earthquakes in terms of location and time? i mean, is it getting better all the time? do you see a day when you can say, you've got about a month here, and this could be very severe? >> well, short-term earthquake prediction has always been sort of a holy grail. a desire that we would be able to get some precursor active they would give us the insight of when an earthquake is about to happen. earthquakes defied that, indeed. some seismologists argue earthquakes themselves may not know how big they'll become. that's what we want to know. when are the big earthquakes going to happen? when a rupture starts, how long that's going to prop propagate. we've made a lot of strides where they occur allowing us to inform building codes and it's buildings that kill people. buildings so that they can withstrand earthquake shaking. >> professor and doctor, thank

you so much for your insights. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. still ahead, helping haiti dollar by dollar. what happens to the money you donate? you're watching "msnbc saturday." i do remember sitting down with my boys, and i'm like, "oh, promise mommy you'll never ever pick up a cigarette." and brian looked at me at eight years old and said, "promise me you'll quit." i had to quit. ♪ my doctor gave me a prescription for chantix, a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] chantix is a non-nicotine pill. in studies, 44% of chantix users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment, compared to 18% on sugar pill. it's proven to reduce the urge to smoke. seeing how chantix worked, i wasn't so afraid to try quitting again. [ male announcer ] talk to your doctor about chantix and a support plan that's right for you. some people have had changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood

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welcome back to "msnbc saturday" and our continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti. right now forces, american force nrs haiti. by monday, more than 10,000. and secretary of defense hillary clinton is headed to haiti now to inspect the damage. more now on all of those doan aces coming in for the quake victiming through text messaging alone, more than $10 million now raised. the question is, whether it's through an electronics device or through a check, what happens to the money once you've made that doan jasion to tell us about the process and what to watch out for we're joined by our personal finance correspondent. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we're on record right now. i mean, on track to break records in haiti.

so much money has come in. where exactly does the money go? let's take, for example, the text messaging situation. >> that situation normally it goes then on your cell phone bill and the money actually doesn't come in until you pay your bill. depending on what time you're billed and when you pay the bill, that's when the carrier gets the money. then it can take up to 90 days for that carrier to send the money to the nonprofit organization. verizon and other carrier, actually sending the money based on pledges already made to haiti right away. verizon yesterday said they already sent nearly $3 million. they're waiving that and going through the process. waiving text messages fees. normally you pay a text messaging fee. that's waive for many of the organizations sending relief to haiti. >> verizon, at&t, the rest of them, are they saying hour they funneling the money, though? is it going toy, say, red cross, medical supplies? >> texting, a specific charity.

i did it to a couple charities. text message hate toy a certain number, it goes to the red cross. a response back saying do you really want to make this donation? a $10 donation? respontd yes, you get the confirmation back that you've done that. then, you know, in terms of where the money goes, once it gets to the charity, that's another situation. red cross is saying they're deploying the money as soon as they can get it to relief efforts, mobilize relief workers forefinancial recovery. the best way to check out exactly where the money is going is go to the website of the organization and see what they say. many of the most reputable and largest ones have press releases, updates daily on what is going on on the ground, and you want to be sure you work with an organization that actually has had experience on the ground. all of who, of course, we've heard this morning about how difficult it is to get in, to get the aid to where it needs to go. you want to know that your organization already has a track record working on the ground.

interaction.org a good place to look for a charities doing that. >> our website, too. looking at reputable organization, red cross, salvation army, doctors without border, they're 5u8d or the ground and evidence of it right now. what about places like visa, american express, those transaction fees if you don'tate on your credit card, many ever doing clicking on to a website. are in they having to pay transaction fees? >> taking the cue from the phone companies, not paying transaction fees. normally you bay bear of boots or make a donation with the credit card, the merchant, nonprofit organization pay as transaction cost. that's not happening for many organizations but, again, they're being selective at some of the organizations they're doing this with and they're choosing the biggest ones. you also want to check with visa, mastercard, american expre express, see what their list of organizations are to make it to an organization they'll allow you 100% of that donation to go

to the charity. >> good points, all. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. still ahead, the problems facing haiti that will take a lot more than donor dollars to fix. you're watching our continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti right here on "msnbc saturday." . it's a tasty, nutritious way to make this number go up... . and help this one go down. v8. what's your number? ♪ (announcer) right now, all over the country,

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the thick all around fibers trap and lock on contact. swiffer gives cleaning a deep new meaning. exact change, buddy. ♪ love stinks! continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti and today secretary of state hillary clinton plans to see for herself the catastrophic damage in haiti, en route right now. u.s. coast guard crews arrived in port-au-prince airlifting evaccees out of haiti, americans. five americans killed in the quake. 157 others unaccounted for and feared dead. meaner leadership continues to take center stage at president obama meets with presidents george w. bush and bill clinton this morning at the white house. and for more i'm joined live from port-au-prince by nbc's michelle ka zins xwi. i know it's getting warm there.

get the update in terms of disbursing supplies, particularly the water that's arrived. >> reporter: yes, we're seeing the american military play a huge role in this country from air traffic control here at the airport, distributing water, rescuing people. evacuating the injured. evacuating americans. taking people away from the embassy. and setting up an all-important security zone near the center of port-au-prince overlooking a refugee camp. just to make sure they have people and equipment necessary if things do take a turn for the worse as far as the security situation goes, alex. >> would you say it's security right now that is really foremost in the minds of the military? or i mean i know it's of course getting supplies out there, but they've got to see it's done safely. >> reporter: yeah. that's -- it's sort of like, to do anything to help people, security is necessary. because if they're going to drop water down, you know, to get it to the people who need it the most and then a riot breaks out, you know, the good hasn't really

been accomplished. so it's sort of a hand-in-hand effort between those supplying aid and the military sprying security pip everything is important at this point but security goes along with everything they attempt to do at this point. >> michelle kaczynski, thanks for the live update. see you again. again today hearing wonderful stories of survival from americans on the ground in haiti. earlier on the "today" show an american named luke renner described what he has seen since that quake hit. luke and his family live in haiti. he is the tounder of fireside international, a nonprofit media company focusing on education, documenting the aftermath of the quake and nbc news obtained some of his video. what you're seeing right now. >> one of the things i've noticed is someone here prior to the earthquake is that while there are a lot of people moving around the city, it's a different kind of moving around. now the people that are moving around are very displaced. typically you'll see large crowds of people moving, but they moving from point a to point b with something they're

actually trying to accomplish. right now, so many just don't have a home. so they're moving not because they're going somewhere or coming somewhere. they just have nothing else to do. so it's almost a refugee situation with their own cities. it's very awkward, to be honest. my first day walking out through the city i passed the national palace that's collapsed now and i started talking with families living in large self-made camps there, and one of the families said to me, where are you from? i said i'm an american, and they said, is anyone coming? and in that moment it occurred to me how important communications is, and how little communication there is in haiti. >> renner also documented the situation at a crowded gas station where it appears there is still gas, far from the norm there. many gas station, flat out of fuel, which is in high demand since it is used, of courses, for cars, also for general generators. in haiti, basic necessity, clean

drinking waite and food as relief workers trug strug toll get to those in need, tensions are rising. secretary of state hillary clinton calls it a race against time. she's on her way to haiti. joining me in the studio, "time" international editor michael elliott, good morning to you. >> great to be here. >> glad you're here. the article you just wrote "haiti's agony: what it will take to rebuild" something we're not talking about days and weeks. we're talking a long time to come. >> undoubt think. there's a short-term thing we freed to concentrate on to make sure there isn't a disaster following the disaster. in other words, to make sure the medical supplies are there, band a.j.s, so many have bruises, broken bone, water, so disease doesn't spread through refugee camps. then the longer term necessity of building, rebuilding the institutions of the society that didn't have that many functioning institutions to begin with. to ensure that over a long-term

process, this sort of thing doesn't happen again. i think, alex, it's really important to put this in context. i was seeing wire on the computer before i came down this morning. if, as we are now hearing, 100,000 people are more have died this week, then that would be the greatest single one-week disaster in the american continent in modern times. there was an earthquake in peru in 1970 that killed 70,000, 80,000 people and huge pandemics in the 16th, 17th, 18th centuryings. in terms of's one-week catastrophe, the biggest you've seen on this continent in modern times. >> relative to haiti, michael, you write it is a star-crossed country that had this earthquake strike at a rare moment of opportunity and optimism? >> president clinton, wrote a piece for "time" magazine this week, made that point

eloquently. the last two years have by haitian standards been a period of relative political stability, and relative economic development. president clinton himself has led an international effort to increase investment in haiti. so there was a mood of optimism in a place that's been an unlucky star-crossed country in the 200 years since it achieved independence from france. that's what's so poignant about this incredible tragedy happening right now. >> and the line at the quake making things unimaginably worse. what is the greatest challenge? buildings are down. where do you start? >> a key point right there. this was an urban disaster. this wan as urban disaster. think of the face of the earth where earthquakes are likely to happen, cities occupy a relatively small part of face of the earth, but this wan an earthquake 10 miles, 15 miles outside an incredibly densely populated urban environment.

that means that the number of people who have been crushed under not particularly well-built concrete buildings without a lot of rebar, what have you, have had limbs broken, cuts and bruises that might get infected, it's just enormous. i think plus it's the capital of haiti, which means that major governmental capacity, if you like, is precisely in the place that has been wrecked. if you put all that together you get a sense of the challenges facing there. >> i'm curious how you see it unfolding? when you have literally five of the ministry buildings wiped out and palestiniansters maybe having one laptop computer with potential access to anything they previously had before january 12th, how does haiti get on its feet and who tyke takes the lead? the united states, how do you coordinate the international? >> a massive international effort. we'll see think, the united states in particular the u.s. armed forces are taking a lead

in a mag any of sent way, bought huge international -- i think the good news insofar as there is good news, aid effectively managed can do a lot in a very short period of time even in the most devastated areas ever indonesia, when the tsunami struck five years ago, very substantial rebuilding and very substantial re-introduction of public services so the people who survived have been able to get on with their lives. in other parts of southeast asia, governmental structures like thailand, where it actually was, there's been a substantial recovery already. so if you -- it is not impossible to rebuild societies and rebuild institutions and to put people's lives together if you get an aid and assistance structure long-term in place managed properly. can be done, and, please, god,

if you see these absolutely awful, awful shots and videos from port-au-prince this weekend, please, god that that happens. >> from your mouth to god's ears. michael elliott, "time" magazine. thanks so much. do stay with us for continuing coverage of the rescue recovery in haiti. with you all day and night as the world mobilizes to help the quake-ravaged nation. in a moment, the former head of fema joins us to talk about helping haiti. hey bets, can i borrow a quarter? sure, still not dry? i'm trying to shrink them. i lost weight and now some clothes are too big. how did you do it? simple stuff. eating right and i switched to whole grain. whole grain... studies show that people who eat more whole grain tend to have a healthier body weight. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains... and 110 calories per lightly sweetened serving. more grains. less you. multigrain cheerios.

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because doing the right thing isn't just for responsible drivers. it's for responsible car insurers, too. that's our policy. find out how much you could save. call us directly at... welcome back to msnbc's continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti. at any minute former presidents george w. bush and bill clinton are expected at the white house meeting with president obama and they will take the lead in fund-raising efforts for haiti. day after day, desperate attempts toy people using bare hands digging through the rubble with the hope of rescuing someone trapped beneath. our david paulson is former feel ma director. good morning to tu, sir.

>> good morning, alex. >> that's going tobin spirit, people hoping against hope, racing again time to what extent do you think efforts to rescue people still buried are going to be successful given how much time has passed? >> well, the further along we get, the opportunity to save people are getting less and less, but that 72 hours we talk about is just a goal. we have seen people rescued seven, ten days out. the rescuers know that. they're very good at what they do and will keep going until there's absolutely no hope of rescues people. >> were you to be in charge of this rescue and recovery effort, how would you prioritize things and is that how it's being done right now? >> they're prioritizing exactly how they should. started with life safety trying to rescue people and now moving food and water and supplies into the area. the next phase will be finding some type of shelter for hundreds ever thousands of people there. i'm pleased to see the military

on the ground. one of the very clear lessons we learned in katrina was getting the department of defense involved early. the 10,000 troops coming in monday are going to be a tremendous asset. they'll be able to provide that command and control that's needed on that island right now. >> is that who's going to be in charge? does it naturally fall upon the shoulders of the u.s. military? are there others, certainly many others stepped up to the plate to help out, but whom sdp it really go to to keep sense of everything and establish direction? >> part of that is up to the haitian government. i suspect that the u.s. military will be the largest players as far as command and control. we have, we've had a long-term relationship with haiti. we have over a million haitians living here in this country. almost 5,000 american citizens in haiti, and so we're working with them a long time. i suspect that the u.s. military will be the leaders as far as command and control of what actually happens on the ground, and rightfully so. >> okay.

david paulison, thank you so much, former fema director. >> thank you. if you want to donate or help in anyway call 1-800-4unicef or text hate toy 90999, which automatically donates $10 to the red cross relief effort. so far, $8 million raced through this method, and for a list of other orpgss helping haiti, logon to helphaiti.msnbc.com. in a moment, putting aside political differences. american presidents coming together for a common cause, helping haiti. you're watching "msnbc saturday." when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance travelers.

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giving you a live look right now at the "usns comfort." that is a ship that has just left dock at its home port in baltimore. it is heading out to sea, making its way as quickly as possible to haiti. expected arrival there on thursday. on board, more than 600, including 560 medical personnel,

those people that will be able to deliver much-needed help, supplies, and also treatment for those of the most critically injured. this ship is the size of three football fields in length, and it is so large that the port of haiti, which has been pretty much decimated by this quake, will not be able to have it pull into port. of course, that probably would have been the case prior to, even. it will be stationed just off the coast there, and those supplies will be ferried via helicopter. also, those people who need treatment, which they will certainly get aboard the "usns comfort." meantime, president obama is in washington for a meeting with george bush and bill clinton, two men who have experience operating in a time of crisis. they're spearheading the effort to get donations for haiti. pastor rivers is an msnbc analyst, and before we get to talking about this special on obama's look ahead to the year 2010, which airs monday night, i want to ask you about the situation in haiti. and for many who want to donate, many people look to their church

communities, because they often have wonderful infrastructures in place on the ground -- sister churches. talk about that and the connection, that way if people want to help. >> sure, absolutely. the faith communities have been major actors from the beginning hours of this crisis. you have catholic relief services that does an amazing job, you've got the church of god in christ charities, which are sort of the black equivalent of the catholic charities, which is now mobilizing. black churches and faith communities and larger faith communities are now fully mobilized -- world vision, catholic charities, church of god in christ charities are all mobilizing. so, in all religious traditions, we now see a full court press, and the faith communities are to be celebrated and affirmed, because they were some of the first actors on the ground to respond immediately to the crisis. >> all right. reverend rivers. let's get now to the special that's coming up. i know the president's been

extremely vocal on the haiti issue, but putting the president out there on camera, it serves what purpose, you think, in these trying times? >> i think that president obama is to be commended for getting out front on this major humanitarian crisis. he brings celebrity, the status of the office, and i think it's very important for the world to see the fact that the president of the united states has lent his moral authority to deal with an extraordinary crisis, and the president and the united states is to be commended for, you know, really stepping up in a major way. >> and it's been a year, nearly, come january 20th, the one-year anniversary of the president's inauguration. new polls show that if the 2012 presidential elections were held today, just 39% of americans say they would vote to re-elect obama. 50% say they would vote for someone else. what do you see as being at play

here? >> i think that -- well, one, i give president obama a b-minus. i think that we need to note that the president came into office, arguably, with one of the most difficult challenges that any president had confronted in the last decade -- i mean, the last -- yeah, the last decade. you had the banking crisis, where you saw the virtual collapse of capitalism as we know it, you have the health care issue, you have afghanistan, you had iraq. in fairness to the president -- and here, again, in fairness to the president, he should be given, as i say, a b-minus, given the challenges that confronted him. now in the next year, there are a number of issues that the president's got to deal with. for example, the bottom third of the american public he has to respond to and the needs of the cities. so, i'd say, in fairness, while i understand the polls and the frustrations that people

experience, he has done very well. now, he's got major challenges in 2010, and what president obama does in the cities, who have not, you know, those issues in the urban areas is one of the major challenges he'll confront in 2010. >> okay. does this b-minus grade you're giving the president extend to the issues of racial equality in the inner cities as well in terms of the president dealing with that? i mean, over the past year, look at how he's done. >> say it again, alex? >> did you give the president a b-minus regarding race relations? >> you know, i give him an a-plus! >> okay. >> listen, an a-plus. listen, you have a black man, barack obama, was elected president of the united states. that's number one. number two, i'd give the united states an a-plus plus, because i think the election -- and i said this at the time -- the election of barack obama perhaps says more about how extraordinary the united states is, says more about the u.s. than it does about the president, because this country came together and

formally transcended the spiritual legacy of the confederacy when it elected a black man named barack obama president of the united states. >> okay, but what more needs to be done as we look ahead to 2010? >> i think that looking forward, the cities and how the poor, black and others, at the bottom third and fourth of this country, hey, that has to be dealt with. i understand for legitimate political reasons president obama avoided being ghettoized by focusing on any race-related issues, and that was prudent for his administration to do. but moving forward in 2010, the issue of the poor, and in particular, the poor in the cities, can no longer be avoided. and rahm emanuel and richard gibbs and all of his consigliaries have to confront that or there will be problems moving forward.

>> reverend eugene rivers, as always, we appreciate your time. good to see you. >> thank you, alex. happy new year! >> and to you. here's a programming note. chris matthews will air a two-hour special with issues regarding race and race relations in the u.s. you can watch "obama's america: 2010 and beyond" monday night at 10:00 p.m. here on msnbc. as we go to break, another look at the "usns comfort." it's left the canton port in baltimore, headed as quickly as possible to haiti, bringing some much-needed relief and supplies in terms of the medical equipment and the personnel who will be able to help those so desperately in need. stay with us. you're watching our continuing coverage of the crisis in haiti.